This 1896 volume by Reverend J. A. Zahm, a professor of physics at the
University of Notre Dame, considers the Catholic theological tradition
as it relates to evolution. The author discusses Darwin's theory of
evolution in detail, and traces the debate between theologians and
scientists back to the early days of evolutionary theory. He compares
late nineteenth-century evolutionary theory and the beliefs of the
Catholic church, carefully evaluating the arguments and probing errors
and misconceptions in theory and terminology. He also attempts to shed
light on the little-understood relations between evolutionism and
Christianity as a whole, and discusses whether a person of any Christian
denomination can be an evolutionist. Zahm's thoughtful work is
considered to be one of the most important volumes on evolution ever
written by a Catholic.
